Enthusiasm, accord, and cooperation characterized the all-teams MSN meeting on November 22 at St. David’s in Minnetonka. From the opening to the closing prayer and Gospel-Based Discipleship colloquies, the meeting was eager and productive.

Co-chairs Jim Huber and Daniel Pearson updated everyone on the past convention and Anne Miner-Pearson explained the status of the Contact Person network. Dwight Zschelle then provided the morning’s focus with his presentation “Social Networking with Inplications for Congregational Development.”

All agreed that this presentation superbly clarified how the BCMS vision for networking might work for our diocese replacing a strictly hierarchical structure, explaining the theory of networking but emphasizing ways in which it is already in practice not just in churches but businesses and other human interdependencies as well.

After noon devotions and lunch, the teams directed to each of the four BCMS goals continued discussion on their work plans with a special focus on seeking integration of all the plans and the devising of a specific action plan through October, 2009.

In a follow-up message to those on the MSN teams, Craig Van Gelder, our consultant, said,

The MSN has come a long way since its initial re-organization in August 2008…

Now, the MSN is transitioning to engage more directly the content related to its work—either directly working on implementation of BCMS strategies, or planning further for their full implementation.

This update was contributed by David L. Allen, a member of Saint Paul’s, Virginia, and working on the Goal 2 task team.